Black Auto Car Wheel Tiretyre Air Valve Caps Stem Dust Cover With Honda Emblem on 2040-parts.com

Connecticut garage fire destroys Volt and homemade EV

News reports say two plug-in electric cars--a 2011 Chevrolet Volt and a home-converted Suzuki Samurai--were destroyed in a garage fire in Barkhamsted, Conn., on April 14. The destroyed Volt had just 2,000 miles on the odometer. The owner said he converted the Samurai to electric power a few years ago.

GM U.S. sales boss LaNeve to leave on Oct. 15

General Motors Co.'s head of U.S. sales, Mark LaNeve, is resigning effective Oct. 15 as the automaker continues to struggle with one of the worst years in U.S.

2013 Nissan LEAF updated

Nissan has updated the LEAF EV in Japan for 2013 with better range, less weight and a new LEAF S entry-level model. Revealed in Japan – but likely to come to the UK from 2013 when the LEAF starts rolling out of Nissan’s Sunderland factory – there are significant upgrades to the powertrain which result in both less weight and better range. Nissan has had a play with the electric powertrain and made it both smaller and lighter with a new motor that uses 40 per cent less dysprosium (a rare earth metal) than before, and comes in 30 per cent smaller and 10 per cent lighter, and a new streamline battery case and a few other tweaks drops the LEAF’s weight by 80kg.